


monday morning

by wingsaloof



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Coming Out, Ficlet, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 14:12:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsaloof/pseuds/wingsaloof
Summary: Taichi accidentally spots Banri and Juza together. Of course, Tenma had to know about it.





	monday morning

**Author's Note:**

> originally made as a gift for the [full bloom fan letters](https://fullbloomfanletters.dreamwidth.org/4301.html?thread=31181#cmt31181) exchange!

“So, you’re not going to talk to him?”

“What, me?! Are you sure?”

“You’re the one who caught them.”

“But you’re better at being polite!”

Juza could feel the hesitant stares coming from behind him, unable to ignore Tenma and Taichi’s nervous chatter. He already knew what that fuss was about, even though he had no idea how to deal with it. It all started two nights ago, after dinner, when they were going back to their room. By “they”, he meant, of course, himself and Settsu, that shithead and lame excuse of a roommate-slash-partner he had. And again, with “partner”, he meant boyfriend (but he’d rather die than call Banri by that), and one more time, of course, this was supposed to be a secret.

That is, until the shithead-slash-roommate-slash-partner decided to pin him up against the wall, “for some thrill”, “come on, Hyodo, you’re too stiff, it’s just a kiss” and all that stuff. The hallway was quiet as it had never been, and even though he was a bit scared, the feeling of being pressed up like that, with Settsu nearly begging for contact… Juza couldn’t help but give into his desires.

Well, it’s less dramatic than it sounds, really. It was just a couple of kisses until Juza ended up hitting his head against the wall, pushing Banri off him amidst the shock of the injury. As soon as he looked around, recovering from the hit, he could see a blur of red hair dashing around the corner.

“Fuck.” He cursed, shaking his head. Settsu, unaware of what just happened, just smirked and answered ‘let’s go back to our room first’.

And the rest is history.

There wasn’t much questioning to do over who was the redhead watching them – Taichi was quick to give himself away the next morning, with short greetings, nervous laughter and avoiding having to interact with either both of them during practice. Apparently now he had ratted it out to Tenma, and so, the duo was trailing before him in their way to school, trying to gather courage to ask him about his relationship with Banri.

‘Let’s just get over with this’, Juza thought, stopping on his tracks. Taichi and Tenma froze up immediately, trying to pretend nothing was going on and completely failing at it.  
“What do you two want?” His voice was firm as he asked, trying to keep himself together. Even Juza himself didn’t expect to feel like that, but he was scared of being rejected by the friends that took so long for him to make. Even though they weren’t particularly close, they lived at the same house and studied at the same school, so it would be really hard to avoid them in that case. If they felt disgusted by his relationship, that was understandable, in many levels, but he couldn’t deny that liking another guy romantically was a part of who he was.

“I’m sorry…” Taichi whined, trying to come up with an explanation. “I saw you and Ban-chan in the hallway after dinner, and I must have seen things wrong, I don’t want to make you mad, I’m sorry…”

“Is it true that you and Banri are together?” Surprisingly, Tenma spoke up, matching the seriousness in Juza’s expression. “I’m sorry as well for asking such an absurd thing, but Taichi probably misunderstood something he saw and now he can’t shut up about it.”

“It’s not a misunderstanding.” His reply was quick and dry, and it sure made an impression. Taken back, Tenma’s face slightly contorted into confusion, while Taichi smiled nervously, probably asking himself if it was the right time to say “I told you!”. “What Taichi saw is the truth. I am…” Shit, that was harder than thought, but it was now or never.

“I am dating Settsu. We like each other. If you have a problem with that, you can say it to my face.” 

As expected, awkward silence grew between the three of them, Juza feeling the weight of his declaration. Taichi opened his mouth a couple times, only to think a little more and then close it. Tenma’s confusion seemed to have frozen him on the spot, as if his brain had a short circuit. It was only getting worse by the minute, maybe he should just walk away…

“Amazing! Juza-san, you’re really a man amongst men!” Taichi grinned. “It takes so many courage to say it out loud!”

“I wasn’t expecting that.” Tenma managed to rumble out some words, little by little. “I mean, you and Banri are always so…”

“Y’know how it is, Ten-chan! Love and hate are sides of the same medal, right?”

“That’s not the right word…”

What was really amazing was how they just went back to normal, as if nothing had happened. That left Juza slightly bewildered, given that he was waiting for a much more drastic reaction. His friends took notice of that, being quick to jump on it.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just… wasn’t expecting for you guys to be so cool with it.”

“Well, it’s a little weird, because I’m used to see you guys trying to kill each other, not do… other stuff.” Tenma coughed for discretion. “But what you do with your life is not my business, so it’s not like you need our approval or anything.”

“What’s important is that you’re still yourself, Juza-san!” Taichi followed up, expansive as ever. “You’re still the guy I admire, so like, actually, you’re even cooler to me right now! I respect you even more! After all, it mustn’t be easy to get Ban-chan to fall for you and even let him dominate…”

Fortunately, for Juza’s sake, his speech was interrupted by an elbow to the stomach. Now that the adrenaline was going down, relief was taking over him. He was ready to give up on his friends, but now that he wouldn’t have to do it, the wave just washed over him, filling his lungs with fresh air. Even him and Settsu themselves still were getting used to the idea of being together, so having support was more important than he thought it should, or would be.

“Anyway, we should get going or we’re gonna be late.” Tenma started walking again, leading the way.

“Ten-chan, you’re red.”

“Shut up!”

It was really as if nothing had happened, besides the weight lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you.” Juza muttered, unable to put his feelings in words. He would do with that for now, though, even if his friends couldn’t hear him. Thinking of how he should do it, he followed them to school.


End file.
